Hybrid Electric Vehicles - Sales and Rankings

Sales and Rankings

As of October 2012, more than 5.8 million hybrid electric vehicles have been sold worldwide since their inception in 1997, led by Toyota Motor Company (TMC) with 4.6 million Lexus and Toyota hybrids sold through October 2012, followed by Honda Motor Co., Ltd. with cumulative global sales of more than 1 million hybrids by September 2012, and Ford Motor Corporation with more than 200 thousand hybrids sold in the United States by June 2012. TMC experienced record sales of hybrid cars during 2012, with 1,028,900 million units sold from January 1 through October 31, 2012, representing 14% of TMC's global sales in the first ten months of the year. Also, cumulative year-to-date TMC's hybrid sales through October climbed 63.6% over 2011 total sales of 628,989 hybrids.

Toyota hybrids combined with Lexus models reached 1 million hybrids sold in the U.S. by February 2009; worldwide sales of hybrids by both brands totaled over 2 million vehicles by August 2009, 3 million units by February 2011, and reached the 4 million mark in April 2012. As of October 2012, global hybrid sales are led by the Prius family, with sales of 3.3 million units representing 71.5% of TMC worldwide sales, and the Toyota Prius liftback, available in almost 80 countries, is the leading model with cumulative sales of 2.8 million units through October 2012. The hybrid model with the next highest cumulative sales is the Toyota Camry Hybrid, with global sales of 317,200 units through October 2012. U.S. sales of the Toyota Prius reached the 1.0 million milestone in early April 2011, and cumulative sales of the Prius in Japan exceeded the 1 million mark in August 2011. Global sales of Lexus brand hybrid vehicles worldwide reached the 500 thousand mark in November 2012, with the Lexus RX 400h/RX 450h as the top selling Lexus hybrid with 259 thousand units, followed by the Lexus CT 200h with 122 thousand units.

The United States is the leading hybrid market with more than 2.5 million units sold through October 2012, followed by Japan with more than 2 million units sold through October 2012, and Europe with more than 450 thousand hybrids by January 2012. The top seller hybrid in the U.S. is the Toyota Prius, with cumulative sales of 1,267,166 units since 2000 through September 2012, followed by the Honda Civic Hybrid, with cumulative sales of 214,877 vehicles since 2002, and the Toyota Camry Hybrid, with 213,096 units sold since 2006. The top selling hybrid in the U.S. by an American manufacturer is the Ford Escape Hybrid, with cumulative sales of 130,691 vehicles since 2004, followed by the siblings Lincoln MKZ/Mercury Milan/Fusion Hybrids, with combined sales of 70,536 units since 2009.